(BALTIMORE, MD) – Ring of Honor announced Tuesday that Roderick Strong, aka Mr. ROH, has re-signed with the company. The “Triple Crown Champion” was most recently featured as a challenger for the Ring of Honor World Championship against Jay Lethal at Death Before Dishonor XIII in Baltimore. The spectacular match ended in a draw as the wrestlers battled through the 60-minutes of regulation time allotted for World Championship matches.
“I’ve set the bar really high for myself and anyone who comes after me,” Strong said. “I’ve got unfinished business in Ring of Honor and winning that ROH World Championship for a second time is of the utmost importance!”
Strong will once again find himself battling with champions as he takes on IWGP Champion “Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada at Field of Honor in Brooklyn, NY on August 22nd.
September 30, 2015 will begin Strong’s 13th year with Ring of Honor, as he continues to exemplify Ring of Honor’s pride for having the best wrestling on the planet. More information about Roderick Strong, including upcoming appearances and featured products, can be found on http://www.rohwrestling.com.
Women of Honor Internet Exclusive Match – Mandy Leon d. A girl whose name I did not catch. Not a good match, but everyone was into Mandy regardless.
Episode 1
1. ACH d. Takaaki Watanabe – lots of chops back and forth. ACH is ridiculously entertaining no matter what he does. Watanabe was fine here – a fun if unspectacular opener. ACH won with the 450 splash.
2. House of Truth (Dijak and Diesel) vs War Machine (Hanson & Rowe) – War Machine won via pinfall in an OK match, nothing amazing. Lots of power spots and “Babytista” and “Tinytista” chants for Diesel. I kinda feel bad for him but he seems to take it in stride.
Adam Cole on commentary for the next match:
3. The Kingdom d. reDRagon via pinfall after an assisted spike piledriver – this was my favorite match of the night. Maria, Taven and Bennett are great at working the crowd and making fun of them and Fish and O’Reilly are just as fun to watch as ACH. A really solid tag match and great fun to see live. The little things you might not see on TV like an obnoxious fan trying to start a chant and Bennett stopping him with just a look that cracked everybody up or Fish proclaiming that he and O’Reilly “collectively, we are sportsMEN!” Super duper fun.
Post match, Kingdom beat down reDRagon until Cole stopped them and ultimately sided with Fish & O’Reilly. Future Shock chants from the crowd. This led to a reunion later in the show.
Episode 2
1. Adam Page d. Tim Hughes – superfast squash match, Page won with the Rite of Passage ASAP.
Page was really laying into his young boy Colby, screaming at him, shoving him and making him pull up his kneepads.
Whitmer egged on Page to call out and challenge Jay Briscoe to the gasps of the crowd.
Steve Corino got into it with Whitmer and had to leave for a bit to cool off. The longest build in wrestling continues…
2. Dalton Castle d. Silas Young via pinfall. Castle is as over as the Bucks. No exaggeration there. His shirt was selling like hotcakes and he had the crowd eating out of his hand. After Dalton won, Silas said Castle’s nothing without his boys. He challenged Dalton to another match where if Silas won, he gets Dalton’s boys so he can teach them how to be real men. Lots of “Silas likes boys” chants after that, for better or worse.
3. Moose d. Will Ferrarra via pinfall. Moose in a squash. Crows loves to chant Moose a lot, but he still has a long way to go to hold an audience the whole time. Not much to the match.
4. The Young Bucks d. Roppongi Vice via More Bang For Your Buck after a wild, fun match. You know what you’re getting with a Bucks match and these 4 worked well together – essentially a PWG match in ROH. The Addiction (with Sabin) attacked afterwards, tying one of the Bucks to the ropes and beating down the other. They mocked the Bucks and gave them their own superkick party, too sweeting each other the whole time.
Future of Honor Internet Exclusive Match: A tag team with a cauliflower gimmick (with actual cauliflower) d. QT Marshall & Punisher Martinez. One of the cauliflower guys looked like a smaller Dr. Death Steve Williams and actually looked pretty good, winning with a 450 splash. I just couldn’t hear what their names were.
Episode 3
1. The Briscoes d. The Bloodbound Warriors (Red Scorpion & Grey Wolf) via pinfall. Crowd didn’t know what to make of the Bloodbound. “Ascension” chants and what not. Average match. Briscoes beating tag teams left and right leading to a tag title shot soon, I would assume.
Jay Briscoe accepted Page’s challenge after he said he didn’t even know who Page was, which got a good laugh from the crowd.
2. Roderick Strong d. Donovan Dijak via pinfall after the sick kick. Typical fun, stiff Roddy match. Dijak looked better here with Strong than he has lately. Lethal and the House of Truth beat down Roddy after the match.
3. The Addiction d. Future Shock(!) via pinfall after a whole bunch of shenanigans involving the Kingdom & The Young Bucks which led to a big schmoz between the heels and faces. I guess Cole is a full on face now. It was a pretty good match until the end just fell apart with all the interference.
Episode 4
1. Jay Briscoe d. Adam Page via DQ when Page hit Briscoe with a chair. Not much to it, really. Colby interfered and hit Briscoe with one of Whitmer’s crutches earlier on. Mark Briscoe came out for the save after the match when the Decade was beating on Jay. Jay cut a promo on Page promising to satisfy his death wish.
2. Caprice Coleman d. Cedric Alexander via pinfall when Moose came down and snatched the wrench away from Cedric (after Veda snuck it to Cedric) leading to Caprice getting the distraction win. Very WWE match and this very WWE feud continues.
3. Cheeseburger d. Brutal Bob Evans via countout when Evans tried to put Cheeseburger through a table but Cheeseburger reversed it and Evans ended up going through the table. Not a good match but the kids love Cheeseburger.
Bobby Fish on commentary for the next match:
4. Jay Lethal b. Hanson via pinfall after two lethal injections to retain the ROH World TV Title. Good, fun match. A little sloppy at times, but Hanson worked hard to keep up with Lethal. Hanson even did a semi-botched lethal injection on Lethal to a good pop. Hanson wouldn’t go down after one lethal injection so he got a second one for his trouble. Lethal did the triple tope spot and even knocked Hanson into the crowd on the third one.
Post-match Roddy and reDRagon came out and threatened Lethal, since they’re all gunning for one title or the other (Strong and O’Reilly for the World Title, Fish for the TV Title).
Overall, a fun show with a few really good matches and nothing too terrible (maybe the Cheeseburger/Evans match)
Destination America has pulled Ring of Honor from the 8 p.m. time slot this Wednesday in favor of “Bigfoot in America.” ROH will only have one airing this week, at 11 p.m. The change looks to be permanent as for 8/5, there is also only one airing of ROH at 11 p.m.
Welcome to our live coverage of Death Before Dishonor XIII, from Baltimore MD. Jay Lethal defends the World title in the main event. A 4 Corner Survival match for the ROH tag team titles and much, much, more. Action kicks off at 8 pm eastern and is available on iPPV at ROHWrestling.com
Will Ferrara vs “Professional Wrestling’s Last Real Man” Silas Young
Despite his higher place on the card, Young has yet to score a win over the upstart Ferrara. Back in March, Young was DQ’d in their first match. Two weeks ago on ROH TV, Dalton Castle’s boys provided distraction, allowing Ferrara to score an upset win.
Crowd solidly behind Ferrara, somewhat surprisingly. Young gets into it with some ringside fans before the match and Ferrara does a dive from the ring to fire up the crowd.
Match was back and forth, with Ferrara not wanting to take a countout loss, which proved to be his downfall. After rolling Young back into the ring, Young eventually hit his Misery finisher to get the pinfall win.
WINNER: SILAS YOUNG by pinfall
After the match, Dalton Castle’s boys confronted Young in the ring. They tried fanning him off but Young would have none of it. He set one of them up for the Misery but the other one made the save and then they rode him like a horse. The boys and Ferrara posed, which took us to an Alexander/Moose video package
Cedric Alexander w/Veda Scott vs Moose w/Stokely Hathaway
Prince Nana joined Corino and Kelly at commentary. Mixed reaction for Moose but he does get a fair bit of streamers. Story of this match is that Scott turned on Moose and Cedric went with her, splitting up the Moose, Hathaway and Scott trio. Nana originally brought Moose into ROH, which is why he’s on commentary. Prior to the heel turn, Alexander ended Moose’s unbeaten streak. Actually the finish of that match is what started the turn.
Alexander started the match by constantly trying to roll out of the ring, not wanting to engage. Eventually Moose got a hold of him and threw him around outside the ring, while Scott was screaming at the fans to stop. Distraction by Scott allowed Alexander to get the advantage when it went back in the ring.
Moose eventually took over with what Kelly called an “Okada-like” dropkick. Moose did a 540 splash off the top but was hit by a kick from Alexander on the way down in a pretty amazing spot for a guy the size of Moose. Alexander then got a two count off of a Michinoku driver.
Moose nearly took Alexander’s head off with a clothesline after Alexander slipped coming off the top rope. YAY/BOO slap sequence doesn’t quite get the reaction they were looking for so Alexander hit an enziguri. Alexander then hit the crash and burn dive on Moose but took time from the match to get into it with Nana at the commentary booth. Hathaway made the save but Alexander whipped him into the ringside barriers.
Moose hit Alexander with a powerbomb on the ring apron and Alexander rolled under the ring after being distracted by Scott. Moose pulled him out and rolled him back into the ring. Alexander was hiding a wrench that he pulled out from under the ring and used it to nail Moose and get the pin.
WINNER: CEDRIC ALEXANDER by pinfall
The Briscoes (Jay and Mark) vs Roppongi Vice (Trent Barretta/Rocky Romero)
No real backstory here. Jay lost the world title on the last PPV and is looking to get back on a roll here by teaming up with his brother and long-time tag team partner against one of New Japan’s top teams in Roppongi Vice.
Crowd doesn’t really have a favorite. Romero and Mark take turns doing the Eddie Guerrero “shimmer” early on but Romero heels on him with an eye poke, allowing RPV to get the early advantage. Mark tags out to Jay though and Barretta is isolated for the next while.
Barretta eventually tags out to Romero but the Briscoes take turns working him over for a while, including hitting consecutive senton splashes. Mark was about to do some Froggie-Bo but Barretta ran in, allowing Vice to get the advantage, isolating Mark. Romero continues doing the Guerrero thing, mocking the Briscoes with “Man Up, boys” to the camera, while doing it.
Mark nails Romero with a couple of kicks as he’s doing splashes into the corner, which allows him to tag in brother Jay. Jay takes over with some good ole fashioned clobbering on both guys but they hit double flying knees on Jay. Mark runs in to make the save and it’s chaos for a bit but we’re left with Mark and Barretta, who’s cut open over the eye.
Corino reminds us that the Maryland State Athletic Commission has a habit of stopping matches for blood. Mark puts one of Barretta’s armbands on his head as a headband and does a little Redkneck Kung Fu for a bit. More double-teaming from Roppongi Vice put a stop to that.
Romero takes out Jay Brisoce with a running knee off the apron, leaving Mark and Barretta in the ring to the YAY/BOO spot, which the crowd does react to. Briscoe gets the better of it. Superkick from Jay into a destroyer from Mark onto Barretta. Jay hits a top rope splash and a neckbreaker for two. This draws the first THIS IS AWESOME chant of the night.
Romero breaks up a Jay Driller attempt. Barretta hits a double-foot stomp off the top rope onto the back of Jay, which gets a two count for Romero. Vice set up for a Doomsday device but it’s broken up by Mark. Mark hits a Blockbuster off the ring apron onto Romero outside the ring. Jay hits a Jay driller on Barretta and Mark follows up with the Froggie-Bo elbow drop to get the win.
WINNERS: THE BRISCOES by pinfall
Adam Cole vs Dalton Castle w/his boys
Both guys get superstar reactions coming out and I have to say that they probably have the two best theme songs in ROH. Duelling Dal-ton Cas-tle/A-dam Cole chants after the ring entrances are very loud. They do adhere to the Code of Honor in Castle’s own unique way.
The first HOLY $hit chant of the night comes from a Yoga move by Castle that has to be seen to be believed. Adam Cole followed with an ADAM COLE baby and then mocked the move to a huge reaction. Five minutes in, they’ve barely locked up and the fans are going nuts.
Once they get started wrestling, Castle takes the early advantages with a series of gut-wrench suplexes, helped along by his boys fanning him. Cole takes over by pushing Castle off the top rope and following him to the outside. The boys scatter when Cole goes after them as the fans chant FAN UP.
Cole mocks Castle’s strut before putting on a rear chinlock. The boys fire up the crowd with their fanning. This draws Cole outside the ring and he goes after them. The distraction allows Castle to take control, hitting a dive through the middle roles and then rolling Cole back into the ring.
Castle gets a two off of a modified airplane spin and then goes for a bearhug. Cole powers out and goes to the top rope but Castle catches him and gets another bearhug. The announcers are putting over how strong Castle is, comparing him to Michael Elgin. Cole takes over with a neckbreaker and then a Shining Wizard, which gets a two.
Cole uses a thrust kick to the gut to set up a Figure Four but Castle makes the ropes. Castle rolls out to be attended to by his boys. Cole chases them off but again the distraction allows Castle to take control. Fans chanting PEACOCK for Castle and he hits a German Suplex with a bridge to get a two.
Castle hits a running knee on the apron to Cole and follows up with a dive off the top but Cole hits a superkick and follows with a rolling German but only gets a two. They do the YAY/BOO spot in the centre (third straight match for this) and Castle gets the better of it. Cole turns it around with a low blow and hits a superkick to the front and back of Castle’s head. He follows up with a neckbreaker to get the win.
WINNER: ADAM COLE by pinfall
They adhere to the Code after the match but that allows Silas Young to run in and attack The Boys. He chases them to the back pretty much without incident.
No DQ Match: ADAM PAGE w/Colby Corino and BJ Whitmer (on crutches) vs ACH
Whitmer says that he just had knee surgery and won’t be able to wrestle for the foreseeable future. Crowd is all over Whitmer for the whole promo, throwing him off with chants for Steve Corino. He then announces that he’s joining Kelly and Corino on commentary. In fact he tells him to “lay out” and let Whitmer show him how it’s done.
ACH attacked Page during the ring intros and came out wearing a pink shirt to mock Page. Steve Corino stayed at commentary but is pretty silent for the most part, allowing Whitmer to put Page over. ACH hit a Fosbury Flop onto Page outside the ring and pulled him back outside when Page tried to roll into the ring.
Page tried to throw ACH into a turnbuckle but it looked like a cameraman ate the move instead. Fans chanted CAMERA-MAN at that one. ACH still whipping Page all over the outside to the delight of the crowd. ACH then does a lap around the ring but the showboating allows Page to take over, rolling ACH back into the ring.
They end up outside the ring and it should be noted that the lighting is far better for this show and being outside the ring doesn’t really hurt the presentation as it usually does. ACH takes over by throwing a chair at a charging Page and they go back inside the ring. ACH goes to the top but gets knocked off by a dropkick and then a chairshot by Page.
Page hits a powerslam onto the chair for a two and then kicks ACH back outside the ring. Fans are chanting for tables. Page teases pulling out a table but stops, drawing boos. This allows ACH to take control and he obliges the fans by pulling the table out from under the ring. Setting up the table allows Page time to recover though.
Page pulls a ladder out from under the ring and slides it into the ring. ACH then pulls out Indian workout clubs and beats on Page with one. ACH misses a twisting flying elbow from the top and Page suplexes him onto the ladder, which is draped on the turnbuckle. That only gets a two count.
Funny spot as Kevin Kelly mentions that Page is jealous because ACH got a match with Alberto Del Rio and Corino says “how bout Alberto El Patron? Saved ya…”. Both guys have slowed down quite a bit, selling the beating they’re both getting. ACH then suplexes Page, shoulder first, into the ladder, drawing a “HOLY $HIT!” chant.
ACH hits a field goal kick off of the apron onto Page, who’s on the floor by the table that ACH set up earlier. Back in the ring, ACH hits a brainbuster onto the chair but that only gets a two. Page turns things around with a DDT out of nowhere that gets a two.
Page rolled out of the ring and ACH hit a 450 splash from the ring apron onto the floor. Page actually got back into the ring first after that but ACH went to the top. This brought out Colby Corino to try and knock ACH off the top. Whitmer slid his crutch into the ring and Page used it on ACH. Page then hit the Rite of Passage off of the apron through the table outside the ring. Colby then rolled them both back into the ring and Page on top of ACH for the pin.
WINNER: ADAM PAGE by pinfall
This match wouldn’t be everyone’s tastes but for me personally, I liked it more than just about everything I’ve seen so far in the G1 tourney (and I haven’t seen a lot of the matches).
4 Corners Survival Match for the ROH World Tag Team Titles The Kingdom (Michael Bennett/Matt Taven) w/Maria Kanellis vs War Machine (Hanson/Rowe) vs ReDRagon (Bobby Fish/Kyle O’Reillly) vs ROH World Tag Team Champions The Addiction (“The Almighty” Christopher Daniels/Kazarian)
Adam Cole comes out at the start to join the commentary team. Cole says that he was left out of the Kingdom’s strategy meeting earlier tonight, furthering that break-up angle. He says that he hasn’t even spoken to them all night.
ReDRagon gets the first extended advantage, double-teaming Matt Taven. Bennett stops that with a spear on O’Reilly, knocking him outside the ring. Taven ends up tagging out to Kazarian. Rowe gets a blind tag, while O’Reilly has Daniels on his shoulder and Rowe picks up both of them and slams them down in a nice spot.
War Machine uses double-teams moves on the champs for the next few minutes, including a dropkick by Rowe, followed by a bronco buster by Hanson. Fish ends up getting a blind tag in. The champions use some double-teaming of their own to get the advantage over Fish.
Consecutive springboard legdrops by the champs lead to a two count from Kazarian on Fish. Fish blocks a suplex attempt by Daniels and gets one of his own but Daniels tags in Bennett. Fish gets isolated in the Kingdom’s corner. Bennett hits a spinebuster on Fish but Taven misses a frog splash. Fish about to tag in O’Reilly but he’s knocked off the apron by Kazarian.
Fish ends up tagging in Rowe, who’s a house of fire on the Kingdom. This ends up leading to everyone getting involved. Wild exchanges where everyone takes turns hitting double teams on everyone else. Ends up with Taven all by himself inside the ring and takes out everyone with a dive outside the ring. This sets up a Hanson cannonball from the top that takes out everyone, drawing another HOLY $hit chant.
Back in the ring, the Kingdom hit a double superkick onto Rowe, followed by splash from Taven but that only gets a two. This spurs Cole to leave commentary but instead of helping his teammates, he heads to the back.
Chasing the Dragon by ReDRagon onto Rowe only gets a two and everyone’s in the ring again. Ends up with War Machine standing tall in the centre after taking out all three other teams. War Machine hit the Path of Resistance, setting up a powerslam by Rowe into a splash by Rowe. Daniels then takes out both War Machine members with belt shots and goes after Maria but he’s thwarted.
Kingdom get a near fall after a double-team on O’Reilly. Fish makes the save after a Hail Mary attempt. Double-team by ReDRagon onto Taven gets a near fall but it’s broken up by Daniels. Celebrity Rehab by the champs onto Bobby Fish, completely with a tights pull by Kazarian gets the win.
WINNERS AND STILL ROH WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS: THE ADDICTION by pinfall
Main Event for the ROH World Heavyweight Championship “Mr ROH” Roderick Strong vs World Champion Jay Lethal w/Truth Martini, Donovan Dijak & J Diesel
Nigel McGuinness joins the commentary booth for the main event. Lethal mentioned in the pre-match video package that no ROH World champion has ever lost his first title defence. They do adhere to the Code of Honor without incident to start.
They start out with a nice grappling exchange with neither guy getting the advantage. Test of strength follows and Roddy ends up getting the better out of it, including a pinfall attempt. They’re working a very slow pace so this should be a long one. They did work a 30 minute draw on TV a couple of months ago.
Fans getting on J Diesel with the Baby-tista chants. Duelling Lets Go Roddy/Lets Go Lethal chants early on as well. Lethal drops hard forearms onto Strong for a series of one counts in a unique spot. This starts up LE-THAL SUCKS (or possibly ROCKS) to the New Day Sucks cadence. Lethal tries an upside down surfboard to weaken Strong’s knees and back but Strong makes the ropes.
Strong ends up with the advantage and hits a butterfly suplex but is selling the back and knees from the earlier submission attempt. They end up outside the ring with Strong in control and he hits a series of Ric Flair chops on Lethal against one of the ring barriers. He follows up by throwing Lethal in the air and dropping him onto one of the barriers throat first.
Strong breaks out a Tully Blanchard slingshot suplex for a two count. Strong works over the back of Lethal with a couple of whacky submission moves but Lethal hits an enziguri out of nowhere to take control. Three straight bodyslams in the center of the ring by Lethal and he follows up by dropping a forearm but doesn’t cover. Somewhere in this, Strong was cut on the forehead, likely hardway.
Lethal then hits 13 punches in the corner, which the fans count along with but Strong leaps out of it and takes Lethal down with a clothesline, followed by a side suplex. Lethal tried to escape but Strong grabs him on the way out and stretched him out over the ropes before he had to break it up. Lethal finally does roll out and then snaps Strong’s necks on the ropes when he tries to follow.
Lethal with a modified sleeper on Strong but Strong fights out of it. Lethal goes for a Jay Driller but Strong powers out with a back body drop. Strong goes for the double gut buster but misses. Lethal Combination from Lethal only gets a two as a follow-up.
Strong rolls out but Dijak knocks him down with a cheap shot, which the ref missed. Strong back in the ring and tries a sunset flip off the ropes but Lethal blocks it and throws him back outside. Dijak goes after Strong again but Nigel is trying to get the ref’s attention. They end up back in the ring with Lethal in control and he puts on a rear chin luck.
Strong takes control with a series of chops in the corner onto Lethal and hits a running power slam for a two count. Strong with another submission attempt which seems almost an attempt as resting for the next series of moves. Lethal fights out but eats a sweet dropkick from Strong, which gets a two count.
Crowd really starting to get behind Strong but they get quiet when Strong goes for another submission, a body scissors. Lethal ends up slipping out and a submission attempts of his but they quickly end up back on their feet. Nice insight from Nigel when he explains that often when someone goes for a two, they don’t think they’re going win but they’re just trying to make their opponent expend some energy.
Strong ends up outside the ring and again Dijak interferes but it’s missed again by the ref. Lethal follows him out and goes for a bodyslam but Strong counters with a DDT onto the matt outsde the ring.
Back in the ring and Strong hits a dropkick for a two. Lethal rolls out of the ring this time. Strong follows him out and they get into a chopping match. Strong ends up pushing Lethal head-first into one of the barricades. Strong then throws Lethal back in to break up the 20 count. Strong about to hit a running charge but Dijak holds his leg from the outside, again missed by the ref. He does break free and makes the charge but Lethal got his feet up.
Again Lethal tosses Strong outside the ring and then goes for the running dive but Strong steps out of the way and Lethal flies into the barrier. Strong then takes out Lethal, Dijak and Diesel with a dive over the top. Strong to his feet first and tries to whip Lethal into a barrier but Lethal reverses. He goes into the ring to break up the 20 count but that allows Strong to recover.
Strong hits the double-knee gutbuster in the ring for a near three. Strong gets another two off of a vertical suplex. Strong sets Lethal up on the turnbuckles but Lethal fights him off. Strong back on him and tries for a superplex but blocked by Lethal. Lethal knocks him off again. Lethal hits a Tornado DDT off the top and rolls into a guillotine attempt but Strong gets out.
Lethal brings Strong to the mat by trying to choke him out with wrist tape but the ref notices and makes him break. Lethal snaps Strong’s neck in the ropes again and he rolls outside. Lethal follows and whips Strong into the barricade. Lethal then stalking Strong around ringside, hitting him with chops the whole way. Strong answers with one of his own, allowing him to roll back in the ring.
Lethal gets Strong outside the ring and hits the Trifecta (three straight dives outside the ring) and Martini does a victory lap. Both guys are down outside the ring. Both take until the count hits 19 before coming into the ring after that. Lethal hits a belly to back suplex for a two and then goes for a cross-face. Strong makes the ropes to break it up.
Lethal with a series of Ric Flair chops in the corners and Nigel points out this his chest is starting to blister up from all the chops. In fact it looks like he might even be bleeding on the chest. Strong eventually starts no-selling the chops and Lethal hits harder and faster, almost Kobashi-style. This fires up Strong and he does the same, knocking Lethal to the canvas after a rapid fire sequence.
Strong back body-drops Lethal outside the ring over the top rope. Lethal takes most of the 20 count to get back in. Lethal goes for the Lethal Injection but Strong counters with a Urinage. Strong with a Walls of Jericho in the centre and then into the Boston Crap. Lethal heavily teasing a tap before finally making the ropes.
Strong follows up with more chops in the corner. At this point, it looks like Strong may have lost 15 lbs since the match started. Strong sets him up in the corner again, setting up for a Superplex. Lethal knocks him off the turnbuckles again. Lethal with the Hail to the King elbowdrop but only gets a two. Lethal Combination into a Koji Clutch by Lethal. Strong rolls him over and gets a two count, forcing Lethal to release the hold.
Lethal picks up the Book of Truth and tries to use it but Strong blocks it. Strong with a double gut buster attempt Lethal grabs the book and nails Strong with it for an apparent 3 but Strong kicks out. Fans thought that was a finish.
Match has to be getting close to an hour now, not sure if there’s a time limit. Strong drops Lethal back-first onto the apron and then covers him for a near-three. Another THIS IS AWESOME chant, which is kind of redundant at this point. Lethal tries the Lethal Injection but Strong back out of the way and charges Lethal. Lethal sees that and nails him with a hard superkick.
Lethal ends up on the turnbuckles and again Strong sets up for a Superplex, hitting it this time. Backbreak by Strong, followed by a Sick Kick and Lethal kicks out. That felt like it shold’ve been the finish but the fans going nuts at this point. Nigel audibly cheering on Strong at this point. Strong tries for two straight suplexes. Lethal with a Lethal Injection but Strong kicks out. Lethal screaming at the ref and falls to the mat. Both guys down and Martini is losing it at ringside.
Lethal to his feet first and acting like he’s going to be sick. Strong to his feet as well and they’re trading chops and punches. Both guys down from simultaneous shots. Strong hits two jumping knees to Lethal’s head. Lethal hits a superkick and the bell rings. Strong hits a Sick kick but the ref is talking to the timekeeper. Fans chanting FIVE MORE MINUTES but Bobby Cruz announces that it’s a time limit draw.
Fans chanting THANK YOU BOTH now as Martini comes in to attend to Lethal. MATCH OF THE YEAR chants start up and it very well may be. Both guys are down with refs attending to the them as the show closes.
NO WINNER – MATCH IS A 60 MINUTE DRAW
Kelly closes the show by calling it the greatest match in ROH history. Hard to argue.
Skippable show with a fun but forgettable main event and a bunch of clips from the last 4 years of ROH TV.
Show Recap:
Another show from Terminal 5 in NYC and it’s episode 200. Being the 200th, we get some clips of great moments in the show’s history. First up is the Addiction winning the tag team titles from ReDRagon earlier this year. If you missed it, the KRD reveal took place here and it was Chris Sabin who helped Daniels and Kaz win the titles.
This led into a promo for the 4 way tag title main event next Friday on iPPV with Addiction defending against ReDRagon, War Machine and the Kingdom.
Next up were highlights of Steel Cage Warfare from July 2013. Team ROH won over SCUM, with Kevin Steen getting the final pinfall. We then get highlights of the finals of this year’s top prospects tournament, with Donovan Dijak vs Will Ferrara. Tourney also featured Dalton Castle and The Beer City Bruiser, both featured prominently in the tournament recap. Castle of course won, with the help of the House of Truth.
After a break, we get highlights of Tag Wars 2014, with ReDRagon vs ACH and Matt Sydal. ReDRagon won to retain their tag team titles. Hanson vs AJ Styles from November 2014 is next. They showed about 7 minutes of this, which ended up with AJ beating Hanson with a Styles Clash.
Inside ROH aired next. Mandy Leon went over the entire card for Death Before Dishonor.
Dalton Castle vs Adam Cole
The Briscoes vs Rappongi Vice
Moose vs Cedric Alexander
Adam Page vs ACH
4 Corners Survival match for the tag team titles with the teams mentioned earlier.
ROH World title match: Champion Jay Lethal vs Roderick Strong
Lance Storm vs Michael Bennett from 2012 aired next in clipped form. Bennett won with the Photo finish onto a chair (passed to him by “RudoBon” Bob Evans to send Storm into the podcast world.
The House of Truth (Jay Lethal, J Diesel, Donovan Dijak and Truth Martini) vs The Briscoes (Jay and Mark), ODB and “Mr ROH” Roderick Strong
Lethal is out with both titles. Martini is not dressed to fight, as he’s in his usual getup. Fans chanting Baby-tista at J Diesel. He really does look like a mini version of “The Animal”. Martini takes off his jacket and starts off against ODB. He does leave his sunglasses on though, as he does a little breakdancing to kick things off.
Martini quickly tags in Lethal, so Strong tags in for his team. Lethal tags in Dijak without even locking up. Strong tags in Mark Briscoe and he’s in control as we go to break.
Lethal gets a tag in after Dijak gets the advantage on Briscoe. Briscoe ends up tired up in the HOT corner. Fans really on Diesel with the “Baby-tista” chants. Briscoe ends up tagging in brother Jay and he’s in control over Dijak.
Dijak manages to get to his corner and now Jay Briscoe is tied up in the corner, getting quadruple-teamed by the HOT. Diesel works over Briscoe for a bit and Martini asks for the tag. That doesn’t go very well for him and he quickly tags in Lethal. We go to break after Diesel tags in again, still in control.
Jay turns things around with a Death Valley Driver and tags in Strong. We get a preview of Friday night’s main event, as Strong has his way with Lethal. Strong goes for a pin after a sick kick but it’s broken up by the HOT. Things break down at this point but ODB gets a blind tag from Strong.
ODB hops on Lethal’s back and he makes the tag to Martini. Dijak and Diesel in now as well and it’s 4 on 1 against ODB. She takes a swig from her flask and starts fighting off the four guys. Just as Lethal gets the advantage on her, the Briscoes and Strong have recovered all 8 are brawling in the ring.
The Briscoes take care of Dijak and Diesel. Strong takes out Lethal and this leaves Martini and ODB in there together. Martini rolls her up for a two count. ODB spits “alcohol” in the face of Martini and then gets the 100 Proof rollup for the win.
WINNERS: ODB, RODERICK STRONG AND THE BRISCOES by pinfall
– TV title no. 1 contender’s qualifier: Bobby Fish b Matt Taven via Falcon Arrow
– Nanae Takahashi b ODB with what looked like an Emerald Frosion.
– TV title no. 1 contender’s qualifier: Christopher Daniels b Mark Briscoe via Angel’s Wings
– TV title non. 1 contender’s qualifier: ACH b Kazarian
– Roppongi Vice b Young Bucks. Barreta gets the win with the Dudebuster.
– Silas Young b Willie Mack
– War Machine b The Kingdom
– Bobby Fish b Christopher Daniels & ACH to become the #1 contender for the TV Title. Daniels pinned ACH with the BME, then was submitted by a knee bar from Fish.
– Vegas Wild Card: Jay Briscoe, Dalton Castle, and Kyle O’Reilly b Austin Aries, Moose, and Jay Lethal. O’Reilly submitted Lethal with an armbar.
Ring of Honor announced that they will be running two shows in Dallas next year over WrestleMania weekend, instead of the one show they did in Redwood City this past year.
They will be running at the Hyatt Regency Hotel Ballroom in Dallas, which is the building that Wrestlecon will be in.
The shows will be Friday, 4/1 at 7:30 p.m. local time, and Saturday 4/2 at 2:30 p.m. local time.
– WAR MACHINE over Silas Young/Beer City Bruiser: Really fun match. War Machine is so much fun. Bruiser kept up w everyone and looked decent.
– DALTON CASTLE VS. ACH: Seemed like Dalton dominated, and ACH was confused by his antics and actual offense. Ended up winning when he hit a shooting star press to the outside and then 450 splash inside.
– MATT TAVEN VS. MICHAEL ELGIN: Man, Elgin is NOT over w the ROH crowd anymore. Thing is I thought it was a good match, Elgin won w the Spider Bomb. No buckle bomb cos the ring probably will fall apart. Elgin cut a promo afterward about dreams coming true, being in love with pro wrestling and being in the G1.
– Intermission
– MICHAEL BENNETT W/MARIA KANELLIS VS. MOOSE VS. WILL FERRARA VS. CHEESEBURGER: I think Bennett won when he rolled up Cheeseburger. OK match. Best part was Maria’s antics on the outside and briefly wearing the Chesseburger hat.
– ADAM COLE VS. BOBBY FISH: Adam Cole won but don’t remember exactly how. Good match,tho.
– UNDISPUTED ROH WORLD & WORLD TELEVISION CHAMPION JAY LETHAL & TRUTH MARTINI vs. JAY BRISCOE & ODB: I thought this was way better than expected. Credit to ODB, she gave as good as she got and kept up w the men. ODB pinned Truth after his missed with the book shot and she spit the content of her flask into his eyes.
– “THE PHENOMENAL” AJ STYLES vs. “MR ROH” RODERICK STRONG vs. KYLE O’REILLY: Fantastic match. Instead of the usual one guy waits on the outside while two guys do stuff formula of 3 way matches, all three were in the ring for the majority of the match. Strong pinned O’Reily while AJ was on the floor.
Notes
– Fun show, they announced a return date of November 14th, they did not say it was nearly sold out already like last time.
– The shoot was also set up more like a house show than tv taping with no trons, no Scarlett ring announcing, no Kevin Kelly or Steve Corino.
On Thursday, Ring Of Honor announced that former ROH Champion Austin Aries’ return to the promotion will be on Friday, July 17th as part of a six-man Vegas Wild Card main event. He replaces Roderick Strong who had to pull out due to a prior scheduling commitment.
Aries will team with ROH Champion/TV Champion Jay Lethal and Moose to face former ROH Champion Jay Briscoe, Dalton Castle, and Kyle O’Relly. The show will be at Sam’s Town Hotel & Gambling Hall in Las Vegas.
The rest of the card:
– Roppongi Vice (Ricky Romero & Berretta) vs. Young Bucks
– ROH TV Title #1 contender’s tourney opening round (winners to compete in three-way later in the night for #1 contendership): – Chris Daniels vs. Mark Briscoe – Matt Taven vs. Bobby Fish – Frankie Kazarian vs. ACH
– Adam Cole, Michael Bennett, Silas Young, Maria, and War Machine will also be in action.
If you missed our recap on this week’s ROH TV show on Destination America, here you go.
Jay Lethal learned that he’ll have to defend both the ROH World and TV title. Also, I’m doing an ROH TV recap this week (Destination America version) as Paul Fontaine is en route to Las Vegas for the WrestlingObserver.com convention. THAT is big news. Also, the main event tag team match was excellent!
Show Recap:
Our show opens with black and white stills from the Best In The World main event between Jay Briscoe and Jay Lethal just like WWE used to do back in the day. I miss that aspect of “You should have bought the show, man.”
This week’s show comes to us from Terminal 5 in New York City.
Watanabe vs. Dalton Castle
My God, Castle is something else with the two helpers, the outfit, the entrance…amazing! As the two exchange shoulderblock knockdowns, we get a fun moment when Watanabe summons the boys to fan him as they earlier did with Castle. We later get the two attempting to small package each other and rolling around the ring in another comedy spot.
Castle hits a deadlift German suplex that is pretty impressive, but Watanabe matches with a move that looks like a Texas Clover Leaf setup that turns into a knee jam when he dropped back to the mat. The end comes when Castle reverses Watanabe into a spinning front face splash for the pin and win.
Post-match, Castle grabs the mic and says there’s a lot of boys out here tonight, snaps his fingers and the the boys conform themselves into a human chair. That brings out Silas Young who yells at Castle until we go to break. Castle beat Young at Best In The World so their feud must continue.
Jay Lethal speaks
Nigel McGuinness introduces the ROH TV Champion and NEW ROH World Champion. Lethal is flanked by Truth Martini, Jay Diesel, and Donovan Dijak. Nigel shakes his hand and congratulates him, but as he hands the mic to Lethal, Martini intervenes. He puts over Lethal as the man and then lets Lethal talk. Lethal says he’s the best in the world and doesn’t say much else of consequence.
McGuinness wants to know which belt he’s going to vacate, and Lethal is furious. He’s not going to give up either title as he earned both of them. McGuinness says that means he’s going to have to defend both titles separately and that while he’s got Roderick Strong in a few weeks for the World title, he’s got Mark Briscoe next week for the TV title. Lethal isn’t happy with all of this, but intensely says that he will do it.
This brings out Strong who wants Lethal to square up to him and shoves his shoulder. He says a few things that aren’t that interesting and we move on. Good segment overall, but unfortunately, Strong didn’t add anything to it with his quick promo.
The Kingdom (Adam Cole and IWGP Tag Champions Matt Taven/Michael Bennett) w/Maria vs. Michael Elgin & reDRagon (Kyle O’Reilly/Bobby Fish)
Before the match starts, Maria grabs the mic and tells Cole that while he’s upset about Best In The World, it’s not his fault. She says that as the leader of the Kingdom, she takes full responsibility. There was no replay of what happened, so I have no idea what happened to Cole.
Elgin gets a tepid reaction coming out, but the NY faithful love them some reDRagon. After Elgin held Bennett up for a long vertical suplex, including two attempts by Cole and Taven to break it up without Elgin dropping him, they changed their tune. I’m late to the ROH party, but Elgin is a strong dude, eh?
The heels worked over Elgin for a long time and prevented him from getting a tag to reDRagon after the break by attacking Fish and O’Reilly on the apron. Elgin regained the advantage with an Okada roll/big stomp on Bennett and following that with a Codebreaker on Cole while senton bombing a grounded Bennett. I’m an Elgin fan now!
Hot tag to reDRagon who are not just one but two houses of fire. Then we get some gyrating into a DDT/wheelbarrow suplex combo on Taven for a near fall. As the Kingdom regains control, our hero Elgin lifts Taven and Bennett for a double Samoan drop, fends off Cole, and still pulls it off.
What followed was five minutes of tag team action that was too much to recap here. What you need to know was that is was amazingly awesome. Near falls, huge spots, Canadian Destroyers, dives over the top, finishers, kickouts, more finishers, “This is wrestling” chants….what a fun match. Go watch it already!
The end came when O’Reilly somewhat sold a superkick into the Dean Ambrose rope spot into a lariat clothesline which led to a Chasing The Dragon finish for the win. Post match, Cole raised O’Reilly’s hand and walked out without the Kingdom as Maria angrily looked on.
Final Thoughts:
The whole show was really entertaining, especially the main event tag team match which I implore you to watch ASAP. There may have not been a lot of selling, but if you enjoy spotfests, this was for you.
